In general, gas sensors are utilized for various applications in industries such as industrial production (e.g., methane detection in mines), the automotive industry (e.g., detection of polluting gases from vehicles), environmental monitoring, boiler control, etc. Conventional techniques for detecting non-reactive gases such as methane are complex as such techniques are commonly based on selective reaction of the detection gas species. For example, in order to increase the reactivity of a non-reactive gas, a sensor is configured to heat the gas and raise the temperature of the gas to a level that makes it reactive. In particular, commercially available methane sensors use a semiconducting metal oxide film as a sensing element. When the methane gas is heated to a high temperature (e.g., greater than 400 degrees Celsius), the methane molecules dissociate, and the atoms diffuse into the metal oxide film. The work function of the metal oxide film changes due to the presence of adsorbed atoms, and the change in work function is detected by a MOSFET (metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistor) device. Since a high temperature is required to dissociate the methane molecules, the power consumption of such gas sensors (which is required for heating the gas) is in the order of hundreds of mW. This high power consumption is not suitable for portable gas sensors, for example, as the power supply batteries for such portable gas sensors would have be replaced very often.